The United States expressed disappointment over an Italian court's conviction of 23 Americans in absentia of the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric from a Milan street.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Wednesday that the United States would not comment further because the judge had not issued a written opinion. But he said the Obama administration was "disappointed about the verdicts."

The landmark case involved the CIA's extraordinary rendition program in the war on terrorism. The Americans, all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents, were tried in absentia as subsequent Italian governments refused or ignored prosecutors' extradition requests.